80% of employers plan to take on staff

Eight in ten employers want to hire permanent staff in next three months

Published: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 10:46am GMT

80% of employers plan to take on permanent staff within the next three months and only seven per cent intend to reduce numbers, according to the latest JobsOutlook survey by Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

76% of employers have plans to recruit during the medium term (four to 12 months), with only one per cent revealing their intentions to decrease their permanent workforce.

This correlates with 93% of employers reporting to have ‘no’ or ‘only a little’ spare capacity to increase business.

Microbusinesses have seen the most notable rise in demand for permanent staff, with a net balance of 74% intending to recruit staff over the next three months, compared to 29% who signalled this intent a year ago.

Kevin Green, REC chief executive said: “Businesses are increasingly thinking about expanding their numbers and many are telling us that they can’t take on more work without more staff. At the same time, the UK is suffering from skills shortages across the economy and it’s getting harder for hirers to attract and retain the talent they need.”

Green added that “employers should seek to improve recruitment practices and tap into talent pools that might have been overlooked” to battle the skills shortages experienced across the economy.

“We have one million 50-64 year olds who have been made redundant in the UK, and that’s a huge amount of skill and experience that businesses could benefit from to help meet demand,” he said.

This month’s JobsOutlook survey also reveals that 43% of bosses plan to recruit more temporary workers within the next three months and 46% want to increase their temporary staff in the next medium term.